Mirror Box Tofu
A classic Jiangsu dish in which fried tofu blocks are stuffed with a meat filling and braised with shrimp, winter bamboo shoots, and dried mushrooms. The sauce gives the dish a glossy orange-red finish, while the tofu remains tender and richly flavored.
Ingredients
small box tofu
350 g
lean pork (minced)
150 g
large shrimp (placed horizontally on the meat filling)
50 g
winter bamboo shoots
25 g
rehydrated shiitake mushrooms
15 g
Shaoxing wine
25 g
scallion
15 g
ginger
10 g
salt
7.5 g
soy sauce
15 g
sugar
5 g
tomato sauce
10 g
pork broth
100 g
cornstarch (mixed with water for slurry)
15 g
cooked lard
15 g
sesame oil
15 g
soybean oil (75 g actually consumed)
450 g
Instructions
1
Prepare the meat filling
Mince the pork, then combine with Shaoxing wine, scallion-ginger juice, and salt, and mix until the filling becomes sticky and cohesive.
2
Cut the tofu blocks
Cut the tofu into rectangular blocks 5 cm long, 3 cm wide, and 3 cm thick.
3
Deep-fry the tofu
Lower the tofu into oil heated to about 200°C (about 80% hot) and fry until the outside forms a soft shell and turns golden yellow, then remove and drain the oil.
4
Hollow and stuff the tofu
Once cooled, scoop out the soft tofu from the center of each block, fill the cavity with the meat mixture, and lay a large shrimp horizontally on top of the filling.
5
Stir-fry the aromatics
Heat a wok over high heat, add the soybean oil, sauté the minced scallion until fragrant, then add the shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoot slices and stir briefly.
6
Braise the tofu
Arrange the stuffed tofu in the wok with the meat side facing down, add Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar, tomato sauce, pork broth, and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and move to low heat to simmer for 6 minutes.
7
Thicken and plate
Return to high heat, add MSG, thicken with the cornstarch slurry, drizzle in the cooked lard and sesame oil, then transfer to a serving plate with the shrimp facing up.
